Process Safety Management

Developing optimum safety and risk management systems, guidelines and standards, and audit protocols worldwide.

A proactive approach, coupled with properly planned and implemented safety and risk management systems can help you comply with local, state and federal PSM regulations, as well as minimize loss of life, environmental impact, equipment damage, citations and litigation.

Learn More

How We Can Help You

ioMosaic pioneered many of the current risk assessment techniques for processes that handle hazardous chemicals.

Our experts support every aspect to ensure that your facility runs safely and efficiently.

Expertise to help you minimize your exposure to fire, injury, property damage, and litigation.

Integrating best practices with cost-effective solutions to address program deficiencies.

Helping manage risk with facility siting studies, assessments and recommendations.

Senior knowledgeable engineers facilitate PHAs or DHAs in nearly all sectors of the process and processing industries.

Decades of experience leading incident investigations for process industry companies.

We prepare expert opinion reports and provide expert testimony for process incident cases.

Experienced engineers who have performed LOPAs on a wide range of facilities and terminals.

Our experts are at the forefront of pipeline Process Safety Management proficiency.

Proven track record of performing QRAs for facilities, pipelines and transportation routes.

Well versed in assisting global companies with their sustainability reporting communications.

Decades of experience mitigating hazards for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Have a Question on Process Safety Management?

Contact Us

 

Featured Case Studies

 

Corporate Guidance On Risk Management

The chemical company of a large integrated energy company was developing a corporate standard for LOPA, which incorporated a risk ranking matrix. The company was interested in obtaining an independent review of the design of the risk matrix, and in benchmarking the underlying risk tolerability criteria with generally accepted industry norms.

View Case Study
A large Canadian refinery was performing risk assessments to identify personnel, environmental, and operational hazards in order to satisfy legal and business requirements. This work was being done on a planned schedule, with each unit being reviewed annually. The challenge was to use Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) methodologies that provided an effective analysis appropriate to the particular unit to be studied and the potential hazards.
Read more...
When a tank car failed at a customer’s plant, a release of toxic gas occurred. Our client, the supplier of the chemical, was the subject of a class action lawsuit.
Read more...

A major pulp and paper manufacturing company in Mississippi determined that its process safety management (PSM) program had to do more than merely follow OSHA regulations; they wanted it to also be effective in preventing accidents.

Read more...

Featured Video

PSM Frequently Asked Questions

Does your facility need a PSM program? Is your PSM program effectively implemented?

If your facility uses, stores, manufactures, handles, or moves flammable or highly hazardous chemicals on site above the threshold quantity (TQ), OSHA does require PSM implementation. Learn the facts about process safety management.

Contact Us Today

Our Team

Georges A. Melhem, Ph.D., FAIChE

President & CEO The founder of ioMosaic and internationally renowned expert in the areas of pressure relief and flare systems design, chemical reaction systems, process safety and risk analysis. Read more...

Neil Prophet

Senior Vice President and Partner He brings over 20 years of experience in pressure relief and flare systems design project management and engineering expertise for chemical, pharmaceutical and petrochemical companies. Read more...

Katherine Anderson, CCPSC

Senior Principal Consultant Experienced project leader in hazard identification, evaluation, functional safety, process safety and risk management. Read more...

John Barker, Ph.D.

Director The head of our international offices in the U.K. and the Kingdom of Bahrain and an expert in risk management for oil, gas and transportation. Read more...

Pamela M. Nelson, CCPSC

Principal Consultant She leads process safety projects for business units across the U.S., Canada, Thailand, China, and the U.K. Read more...

Marcel Amorós Martí

Director and Partner His expertise consists of a diverse range of industries from chemical and petrochemical to oil and gas and utilities. Read more...

Dianne Coon, CSP

Principal Consultant A CSP Certified Safety Professional with 32 years of experience in process safety and health, and safety and environment (HSE) management. Read more...

Charles Lea, P.E.

Director, Minneapolis Office Lead He directs a number of large technical projects across multiple offices and is also responsible for all project management in our Minneapolis office. Read more...

Featured Resources

Risk Considerations for Safe Process Design

Safe Design has Long Been a Priority in the Process Industries

Today, the process industries need to be certain that their stakeholders have confidence in how they manage the environmental, health, security, and safety implications of industrial activities. Read this white paper for a systematic, risk-based approach to safe design that can help to eliminate hazards that pose high risks from the process and help mitigate.

Read the White Paper

Introduction to Fires and Dynamic Thermal Stress Analysis

This manuscript explains the fire phenomena and introduces the different types of industrial fires that should be identified and characterized during the development of a risk-based quantitative assessment; i.e., flash fires, pool fires, jet fires and fireballs. It addresses specific criteria for the following primary fire types with potential for domino effect; i.e., pool and jet fires. An advanced and time efficient quantitative approach is proposed for accurately estimating the Time to Failure (TTF) of process equipment or any other type of structure of interest being impacted by fires. The approach is suitable for ensuring which are the most appropriate risk reduction measures (active and passive) to be considered during the decision-making process and to predict if there is enough time to either prevent or mitigate the fire outcomes with the aim to prevent escalation; i.e., Dynamic Thermal Stress Analysis (DTSA).

Fire is the rapid exothermic oxidation of an ignited fuel. The fuel can be in solid, liquid or vapor form. Vapor and liquid fuels are generally easier to ignite. The combustion always occurs in the vapor phase; liquids are volatized and solids are decomposed into vapor before combustion. When fuel, oxidizer and an ignition source are present at the necessary levels, burning will occur [1]. The essential elements for combustion are fuel, an oxidizer and an ignition source; i.e., the fire triangle (see Figure 01).

This means a fire will not occur if:

  1. Fuel is not present or is not present in sufficient quantities.
  2. An oxidizer is not present or is not present in sufficient quantities.
  3. The ignition source is not energetic enough to initiate the fire.

Some of the commonly used definitions associated with fires and explosions are given by reference [1]:

  • Combustion or fire: combustion or fire is a chemical reaction in which a substance combines with an oxidant and releases energy. Part of the energy released is used to sustain the reaction.
  • Ignition: ignition of a flammable mixture may be caused by a flammable mixture encountering a source of ignition with sufficient energy or the gas reaching a temperature high enough to cause the gas to autoignite.
  • Autoignition temperature: a fixed temperature above which adequate energy is available in the environment to provide an ignition source.
  • Flash point: lowest temperature at which it gives off enough vapor to form an ignitable mixture with air. At the flash point the vapor will burn but only briefly; inadequate vapor is produced to maintain combustion. The flash point generally increases with increasing pressure. There are several different experimental methods used to determine flash points. Each method produces a somewhat different value. The two most commonly used methods are open cup and closed cup, depending on the physical configuration of the experimental equipment.
  • Fire point: lowest temperature at which a vapor above a liquid will continue to burn once ignited. The fire point temperature is higher than the flash point.
  • Flammability limits: vapor-air mixtures will ignite and burn only over a well-specified range of compositions. The mixture will not burn when the composition is lower than the Lower Flammable Limit (LFL); the mixture is too lean for combustion. The mixture is also not combustible when the composition is too rich; that is, when it is above the Upper Flammable Limit (UFL). A mixture is flammable only when the composition is between the LFL and the UFL. Commonly used units are volume percent fuel (percentage of fuel plus air).


Featured Services

Quantitative Risk Assessment

Proven track record of performing QRAs for refineries, chemical plants, LNG facilities, pipelines and transportation routes. Read more...

Hazard Analysis (PHA/DHA)

Senior knowledgeable engineers facilitate PHAs or DHAs in nearly all sectors of the process and processing industries, either hands-on or remotely. Read more...

Latest News

Want to Get the Latest News from ioMosaic?

Sign Up Now